Random Jerseys Hoopsters Rocked at Bonnaroo 2012

I just got back yesterday from four glorious days in Manchester, TN attending the mother of all music festivals, Bonnaroo (side note: for anyone who loves music this is a must attend event. I had the time of my life and couldn’t recommend it enough. Here’s a quick video of Skrillex dropping it hard). Hoopsters love to rock jerseys at festivals and Bonnaroo was definitely no exception. The jerseys below had to fit a certain criteria:

The player has to be average, crappy, totally random/unexpected, a big time throwback, awesome for reasons other than their play on the court, or a childhood favorite that hasn’t been in the league in at least 10 years. If the player is/was good then the jersey has to be from a team other than his current or most known team (ex. his jersey is expired, like wearing a Drew Brees Chargers jersey). There’s nothing cool about seeing a LeBron James Heat or Michael Jordan Bulls jersey. However, seeing a Kevin Duckworth Trail Blazers or Scott Skiles Magic jersey is awesome.

All of the random jerseys below fit this criteria. Enjoy.

This Rudy Fernandez Trail Blazers jersey was the first one that I saw and is definitely a candidate for Top 5 of Bonnaroo. Really, Rudy Fernandez? Were they out of Nicolas Batum jerseys?

This vendor sold lighters, cheap sunglasses, and very well crafted probably made in China knockoff NFL jerseys for $40. How that fits into the dirty hippie/music culture I have no clue. The reason this picture is in here is because the girl working this booth had no clue who Tim Tebow was. That being said, I bet she knows where you can score some Molly.

Ball Don’t Lie Trailblazers. Had this been a Rasheed Wallace Atlanta Hawks jersey it would have instantly become the greatest jersey I’ve ever seen.

If you can believe it this was the most popular jersey of Bonnaroo (I came across two of them). This is definitely a Top 5 jersey as Jalen Rose only spent two seasons with the Nuggets (they drafted him). The only thing that would have been better than this would have been a Jimmy King Nuggets jersey (he played 2 games for them). Extra bonus points are awarded to this guy for the wear and tear/fading of the jersey.

It’s not uncommon to see a Penny Hardaway jersey as he was a “cool” player that had his own talking doll. Things like that are important to 18-24 year old Hoopsters who are looking to buy a jersey.

I was most excited to talk to this guy for obvious reasons…nWo 4 LIFE! I was definitely a Wolfpack fan.

This Michael Redd jersey just might be the most boring jersey ever.

There aren’t many people who will proudly wear a Lendale White jersey in public. This guy is one of them and he looks exactly like what you think someone who rocks a Lendale White jersey would look like. This jersey lands at number 2 in my Top 5.

I debated on whether I should even include this one or not since Shawn Kemp was an All Star and therefore seeing his jersey isn’t really that cool/random. I decided to include it because I’m guessing this guy bought the jersey because of all the kids that Kemp has, not because of his play on the court. With Hoopsters there’s a 50/50 chance on if they even know who the player is. If you look close you’ll notice that the colors of this jersey are vibrant and bold. That means this jersey was purchased recently. This wanna-be Hoopster loses big time points for that. Had the #40 looked like a Nerf football after leaving it in the rain then I would have given him much more dap.

I really enjoyed this Kevin Johnson jersey because I had KJ’s autograph when I was 9 years old. There is a zero percent chance that this girl knows anything about KJ. Had a friend of hers had on a Thunder Dan Majerle jersey my head might have exploded.

This was the most aggressive jersey/outfit of the festival. I’m all for rocking a jersey but also rocking the matching shorts is a bit much. I don’t think that an impromptu pickup game is going to break out.

This Jermaine O’Neal jersey is about as desirable/valuable as what’s in the portajohn’s.

This Jeremy Shockey jersey is just pathetic. He hasn’t been on the New York Giants since 2007.

These are my three favorite Hoopsters of Bonnaroo as they are rocking a Jalen Rose Nuggets (this is the second one), Derrick Coleman Nets, and Joe Smith Warriors. They embrace everything that you want in a Hoopster: smart NBA knowledge and the ability to pick a jersey of a player that was once good but not good enough to where it’s not ironic/funny/cool.

They asked me the following question, “would you rather have DeMarcus Cousins career (you can project how it’ll end) or Derrick Coleman’s?” I chose Derrick Coleman because Cousins doesn’t seem to be all there mentally. He seems to whine a lot, isn’t a model teammate, and appears to be the type of guy that would be content just getting his and not worrying about anything else. For his sake lets hope that he takes a page from Zach Randolph, changes his attitude, and then becomes more of a team guy. Cousins has some crazy good ability but just needs to get the rest of himself in check. Coleman was no saint but I’d rather be locked in for his 16.5 ppg and 9.3 boards average than roll the dice on Cousins figuring things out.

This is a fantastic Hulk Hogan costume. A+!

The joke starts like this: Big Dogg Glenn Robinson and Josh Hamiltion walk into a bar….

This is me on the left rocking an Ed O’Bannon Nets jersey. I’m yet to run into anyone else who has this.

What was most impressive about this Darius Miles jersey is that it was authentic. Talk about someone going all in on a player.

This Danny Granger jersey is as boring as the Michael Redd one.

I saw numerous Damon Stoudamire jerseys at Lollapalooza last year too. I’d say that Damon Stoudamire is the most common Hoopster jersey that you’ll see. He was good enough for people to own his jersey, he was on multiple teams (you’ll see more of the Trailblazers one), and people like that he got picked up for smoking pot.

This was the only college jersey I saw. Michigan fans needs to hold on to the good ole days.

The guy in the Carmelo Anthony jersey didn’t share his water. This jersey is only on here because Anthony is on the Knicks now so this guy looks like a douche.

Antonio McDyess, very nice. I would put Vin Baker and Theo Ratliff in the same category as Antonio McDyess.

Alonzo Mourning and Emeka Okafor, a match made in heaven.

This Tom Gugliotta Timberwolves jersey gets the award for best jersey of Bonnaroo.

This fan of the FIRST PLACE PITTSBURGH PIRATES was rocking a Willie Stargell jersey. Other than Andrew McCutchen it would have been hard to imagine him rocking a jersey of any current player. If he was wearing a Clint Barmes jersey I may have just walked home from Tennessee.